First, lets start with this weekend. In doing so, lets first start with the biggest congratulations and thank you of all. I am sure I speak for both teams when i say “THANK YOU” to all the 215ers who came out to support. That was one of largest groups we have ever had support our people at an event and certainly larger than any other community there, possibly including the home gym if you don’t count those there who worked and competed. It was such a great feeling to have such a high power of the 215 family there at every awesome turn, and there were many.

A bunch of the athletes there PRed their cleans and all twelve athletes did everything asked of them and some. One of our teams took third and the other team took ninth. Our team that took third was a close runner up and second runner up to two very high level teams, both regional level. I felt both teams operated at their maximal potential and their places of third and ninth were not due to any mistakes on their parts, there was just a very high caliber of competitors at Summer Slam. I was very proud of both teams as should you be of how they represented the 215. While one of our teams performed as expected – awesome job Maya, Erica, Erin, Zach, Kevin & Jeff – our “other” team far exceeded my expectations. For a group who has never competed with one another and most have never competed at all, there was not much more i could have asked of them. They were relentless. You guys were a pleasure to watch. Congrats Julie, Roger, AMA, Perrin, Chandler and Dave for an outstanding performance.
For more pictures from the event be sure to check our members only Facebook page. If you’re not in there yet, you should be and you are missing out. Contact myself or Kate for help getting access.

In House Oly MeetJust a reminder about this weekend. First, I have it listed as 9-2 but it will not take that long. Second, and most importantly, this is for EVERYONE. If you have completed our on-ramp, you can come lift this weekend. I challenge all of you to be here. I promise that you will see more strength out of yourself than ever before. Whether you realize it or not, you have been preparing for this for about three months now – SURPRISE!The order of the operations will look like this:
8:30am – 9:00am: weigh-ins
9:00am: Athlete briefing. this is mandatory and if you are late you can NOT compete.
10:00am: (or earlier) women’s snatch, then men’s snatch, women’s Clean & jerk, and then men’s Clean & jerk

We will be announcing winners for the highest lift in each weight class and various prizes as well including but not limited to tix to the NPGL match, shaker bottles, t-shirts, and more will be awarded. Sign up is live on wodify so please sign up as soon as possible so we can get an idea for numbers. See you this weekend, all of you!!!

Just a reminder that twelve of 215’s finest will be competing this weekend up at CrossFit Generation in Hatboro. This is the same guys who put on the masters competition earlier this year. The event starts at 9am if you want to see all the action, 215’s first heat is at 10:20am. We will be camped out just atop the hill, you will know it when you see it. Bring a chair, a rain coat possibly, and some adult beverages if you like. If you are interested in coming all day and want to car pool, we will be leaving 215 at 7:30 am. Hope to see everyone there.

CrossFit 215 In House Olympic Lifting Meet
Hopefully this weekend will get you a little excited to throw around some heavy weighs next weekend. Next Saturday there will be no classes Saturday as we will be doing the in house Olympic Lifting meet. Athlete briefing will start at 9am. We will talk for a few minutes about about how the day will work, rules, logistics, etc… What do you need to do in order to participate….? Sign up on Wodify and show up, we will take care of the rest. Coaches will be there to help you with strategy and warming up. This comp is for ALL levels! That’s right, any SKILL level! There will be prizes for top lifters in each weight class. Although we will be using weight classes I am urging people not to try and make certain weight classes. Come in at walking weight (every day weight). If you are curious about the weight classes, you can find them here.

This comp will be a leader into our Barbell Club Program officially starting on August 18th. More details to come on Monday here on the blog but for those of you looking to focus on the Olympic lifts, here is your chance. If you are interested please contact us for more information.

Renovations and Expansion
First, I wanted to say thank you for everyone’s patience as we finished up our renovations and expansion. We have converted our annex training room into a therapy room for Jim Brennan and his Physical Therapy practice. Jim has had years of experience working will all types of people including some high level athletes and pro athletes. If you get a chance please introduce yourself to Jim. Jim is not only using space within CF215 but he is also a member of our team. He is excited to learn all about what we do and who we are, don’t be a stranger. In addition, please be aware that the back room is now be used for his practice. The cubbies are still there for you to use but everything else is dedicated to his practice so please try and be respectful.

Our new annex is all but wrapped up. There are a few last finishing touches to make. Please make yourself at home in this space. Warm up, ride the bikes, cool down, it is business as usual. When you are in this space, please try to stay on the rubber floor. The concrete floor is still very dirty and we don’t want to track that onto the floor. We try to keep the floor as clean as possible.

Programming
For this week in training, we are continuing the squat cycle for those that want to. All of you should NOT have logged your max efforts from last week, if so this will not allow proper weight loading for the squat cycle. The squat cycle is a continuation from the first 5 weeks and we will be doing another 5 weeks plus de-load and then test. Again, the squat cycle is optional and there will be conditioning options on Mondays and Thursday.

New apparel is in! If you pre-ordered at the online store, your order is ready! Ask the front desk staff for help (they are labeled with your names behind the desk!) For those of you that didn’t pre-order, no worries! There are plenty of extra items available for you; if you don’t see a size that you like hanging up, please ask! the price sheet is hanging on the shelf. Also, the older T-shirts and tanks are on sale for $20; they are located in the hanging bins!

Don’t forget about the kettlebell workshop this weekend( check out last week’s post for more info)!. Spots are filling up very quickly!! If you want in, email me ([email protected]) and I’ll secure you a spot, or put you on the wait list!

Swing, Clean and Snatch: An Intimate Kettlebell Workshop

DESCRIPTION: Master many variations and nuances of these three basic ballistic kettlebell movements in this three-hour, small-group workshop with instructor Jen Sinkler, RKC-II, KBA.

Expanding the ways you’re able to move a kettlebell will pay off immensely by improving strength, power and core stability (including the often-overlooked anti-rotational component, which is difficult to achieve with a barbell). You’ll learn a slew of new skills over the course of this three-hour session, and we’ll probably dig into a few lifts not on the agenda, too.

We’re dramatically limiting the number of participants 1) because Jen put off sending us the details of the workshop until it was nearly too late, and 2) because it’s more fun when you get more one-on-one coaching, yes?

* The class will be capped at 10 people; We will release the registration on Wodify later tonight. For those of you who are not members of Crossfit 215, please email [email protected] and we will save you a spot!

Bring 80s-style wristbands. (We’ll pretend to play tennis afterward.)

COST: $75 for a three-hour session

JEN’S BIO: Jen Sinkler (www.jensinkler.com and www.liftweightsfaster.com) spent a decade as Experience Life magazine’s fitness editor and editorial director of fitness. She now writes for top fitness magazines such as Women’s Health and Men’s Health, and talks fitness, food and happy life at her personal website.

Jen is a certified kettlebell instructor through the RKC (Level 2) and Kettlebell Athletics, and an Olympic lifting coach through USA Weightlifting; she also holds coaching certifications through Primal Move, Progressive Calisthenics (PCC), TACFIT, CrossFit and DVRT (Ultimate Sandbag).

She works with personal training clients at The Movement Minneapolis, a training facility she co-owns with her husband. She was recently named one of Greatist’s “100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness.”

A rugby player for 13 years, many of those on the U.S. national 7s and 15s teams, she still enjoys any sort of sport. She is the current USAWA world record­–holder in the Jefferson deadlift.

Many of you have expressed interest in Olympic Lifting and are working towards the goal of competing in an Oly meet. We have decided to have an In-House Oly Comp for those interested on August 9th at 9:00am (No 10:00am that day). The meet will be very informal, with the goal of getting you comfortable for how a real meet will run. Even if you haven’t put much thought into competing before, this will be a fun, relaxed experience for anyone that wants to give it a try!

We would like to put another order in with Philly Cow Share. If you are not familiar with the program, please check out Philly Cow Shares website. The cost per share will depend on how much interest there is. For more information including what cuts you will receive, please visit Philly CowShare’s FAQ. We have ordered through Philly CowShare multiple times and their product is always top notch. If anyone is interested in contributing to a share, please email Kate at [email protected] Final dates for ordering are not set; we just wanted to send out a feeler to see who wants in!

Don’t forget: Summer Slam 2014 at Crossfit Generation [Saturday, August 2, 2014 at 9:00am] 215 has put together two RX teams; please come out to support your fellow athletes!

Important Class schedule change: This Friday, July 11th, there will be NO 12pm class. All other classes are still on.

If you haven’t already seen, we have started the process of renovating the gym. Apologies for the loud sounds of drilling and dropping cinder blocks… but trust me, you will love the results. Final touches will be done tomorrow night, so there will be no 7pm class (7/2). Also, the back room will be closed tomorrow night starting at 5:30, all competition athletes are welcome to take class. Please remember to sign in.

4th of July
For the Fourth of July there will be one class held at 10am. Instead of doing a partner workout on Saturday, we’re going to do one for the holiday. There will be both an individual option and a partner option. Show up if you dare.

This week, a couple of your 215 staff are traveling to Las Vegas for the second round of the NPFL combine. Yours truly plus a few other 215ers have been lucky enough to get involved in this program thanks to the brother-sister duo of Mather and Rubi. For more information on these guys and the NPFL, check out the league’s website. You can also watch some of the races taking place this week online.

As a result, there are a few schedule changes for the week. On Monday and Tuesday, there will be NO 5PM class. There may be some additional class times added for your convenience last minute; notification of these will be posted in the members’ group on Facebook.

Programming
Just a few reminders about our current cycle of programming. We are in week 2 of 6 of our squat cycle. We have two options for you, and hopefully you have already chosen which you want to follow. If you are looking to continue with your fitness goals at a regular pace, follow the “Fitness” program. If you are someone who (1) wants to improve your squat as fast as possible, (2) can dedicate your schedule to being here Mondays and Thursdays for the next 5 weeks, and (3) does not have an addiction to high intensity training (i.e. metcons), follow the squat cycle programming. Both options will be available on Mondays and Thursdays. Keep in mind that this squat cycle increases in volume each week, so jumping in midway will NOT work.

In addition to the squat work, there will be one additional layer added into our upcoming programming. Many of you are still at a place where you feel your body needs a good old sweat session more than a couple times a week. Don’t worry; I hear you, and I will provide you with such until I can cure your addiction, you metcon junkie you. For you, you will see a couple workouts a week on random days labeled iSweat. These are workouts you can do during class hours off to the side You can either come in just for those or you can do them after class. If you are not sure about whether doing them is aligned with your goals, check with a coach.

For the next six weeks, we will be focusing on squatting. Many of you have asked to really focus on improving your squat numbers and given a group setting, this is what I believe to be the best way to do it. Below is a breakdown of what the programming will look like for the next six weeks; you’ll see a couple different options on several of the days so you can make this experience whatever you want it to be for you:

Mondays: back squat + front squat OR back squat + conditioning

Tuesdays: cleans

Wednesdays: conditioning

Thursdays: back squat + front squat OR front squat + conditioning

Fridays: benchmarks

Saturdays: 9am snatch OR general fitness; 10am partner workout.

Basecamp
While doing this squat cycle, for the next four weeks there will be no basecamp. Athletes looking to accomplish specific goals outside of this cycle, please contact me. Throughout the week you will see aerobic workouts for those of you that can’t seem to go without a long sweat session. Feel free to do these workouts off to the side during any class.

Pre-Order for ApparelA reminder we are doing a pre-order for our new apparel, but it is for a LIMITED TIME ONLY – ONE WEE! Go to our online store.We have created the discount code: “CF215online” to take 10% off of your order! We also added a few of your favorite products for you to order in bulk and save money on. Again, this store will be open for one week ONLY!

Attention all: New shirts, tanks, hoodies and sweatpants are ready for order! We have setup an online store to make the ordering process a bit easier, ensuring that you’ll get the size and style that you want, guaranteed! If you are interested in ordering apparel, please do so through the website and you will be able to pickup your order at the gym. Please note that when you checkout, the last page has an option that says “Crossfit 215 pick-up FREE“. **Important: there is not a drop down box for the sizes, so just type your size into the box provided.

We have created the discount code: “CF215online” to take 10% off of your order!

Also featured in the store are most of the products we sell at the front desk. The discount code will also work for these items, so go ahead and order in bulk! Again, here is the link: Crossfit 215 Store

For those of you that missed it, this Sunday we will be re-doing the 6K Time Trial on the erg during the 11am class with Meghan. For those of you that did it this past Saturday we will still have programming for you to do as well. Even if you have not been super diligent with your training for this 6K, come in anyway and use the time to baseline yourself for next time. Assuming you have been with us for more than a couple months you still have the base to accomplish something like this.

4 days agoby requisitefitnessThe @crossfitgames open officially begins this week! The Open is a five-week test of fitness for all levels of ability. It’s an opportunity to showcase your hard work and cheer on your friends. This year we’ve created our own scoreboard to crown the fittest men and women at RF! The workouts will be held every Saturday beginning February 23rd (week 1) for five weeks with heats running from 8am - 11am. If you cannot make Saturday’s and still want to participate, Friday, Sunday, or Monday will be available for make ups. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Register at Games.CrossFit.com under affiliate “CrossFit215” and sign

1 week agoby requisitefitnessit’s Friday! We hope you all had a happy Valentine’s Day • We are running a Valentine’s Day special - 14% off all memberships for one month through next week. Treat yourself or your friends and loved ones to the gift of fitness! DM or click the in bio today!

1 week agoby requisitefitnessDoes your gym have a physical therapist with office hours INSIDE the gym? • We are privileged to be able to work closely with some of the best practitioners in the area. If you’re looking for knowledgeable doctors who specialize in working with active populations then contact @trainingroom .gv today! • #Repost@trainingroom .gv ・・・ Now providing Physical Therapy services @ Requisite Fitness in East Falls. Dr. Nick will be in weekly from 1-8 PM providing one-on-one care for all of your musculoskeletal and performance needs. @nickperugini .dpt specializes in working with active populations and is ready to coordinate with you and your

2 weeks agoby requisitefitness“Why do YOU do it? The Open is a competition that gives structure and focused space for marching toward a goal. Anyone is able to pursue aspirations of reaching the highest level or achieving a first muscle-up. It starts with why, which leads to a choice, continues with a plan, gives way to a global competition, and carries on with celebration of the pursuit” @crossfitgames • #intheopen#requisitefitness#crossfit215#crossfit#fitness

2 weeks agoby requisitefitnessTHE OPEN! Coach @whatfredo is here to lay it all out with what you can expect • Who is it for? EVERYONE! RX, Scaled, Masters, Teens, Beginners, Veterans • When does it start? February 21st. We will be completing the workouts on Saturdays from 8-11am for five weeks • What…are you waiting for? Sign up today at www.games.crossfit.com under affiliate “CrossFit215” #requisitefitness#crossfit215#intheopen#crossfit#community

2 weeks agoby requisitefitnessStrong nurses ‍⚕️‍⚕️ • Did you know over 15% of our members are doctors or nurses? These men and women know the value of their own health and fitness. You’ll often see them at RF coming off a shift or about to head in. They make the time work on themselves in order to be more effective in their jobs taking caring of others. National Nurses week isn’t until May but we’d like to give a shout to some of these nurses who crush it week in and week out! #crossfitnurse#requisitefitness#crossfit215#trainwithapurpose#crossfit#health#wellness#fitness

2 weeks agoby requisitefitness#tbt The Open is less than 20 days away! The Open is a five-week test of fitness for all levels of ability. It’s an opportunity to showcase your hard work and cheer on your friends each week. We will be hosting the Open every Saturday beginning February 23rd (week 1) for five weeks running heats from 8am - 11am. If you cannot make Saturday’s and still want to participate, Friday’s or Monday’s will be available for make ups. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Register at Games.CrossFit.com under affiliate “CrossFit215” and sign your name on the whiteboard at the gym • #CrossFit#IntheOpen#requisitefitness#crossfit215

3 weeks agoby requisitefitnessThe Open is a five-week test of fitness. A challenge. Taking part in this contest looks different for everyone. Some will push themselves to go Rx'd, many will scale as needed and all will watch and cheer their friends. The Open is for everyone. We will be hosting the Open every Saturday beginning February 23rd (week 1) for five weeks running heats from 8am - 11am. If you cannot make Saturday’s and still want to participate, Friday’s or Monday’s will be available for make ups. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Register at Games.CrossFit.com! #CrossFit#IntheOpen#requisitefitness#crossfit215@liftingcultureapparel